Unfortunate Dichotomy: In Defense of Brendan Birch
by Clzh and Clzh-x
Summary: We have seen a far too great tendency of antiBrendanism in the modern Fanfiction World. So, therefore, we have written this in his defense. Please read with an open and fair mind.


We have written this for several reasons, the most notably being that there has been an appalling lack of (decently and non) written Hoennshipping fanfiction. Wondering why, we did some searching around, now moving past the vastly larger popularity of one Drew (we accept this; indeed, the anime is the major factor for the Pokémon fanfiction franchise, so Drew is noticeably more popular), we noticed that whenever Drew was involved, there seemed to be an inherent overly-serious rivalry between him and Brendan, and, furthermore - this is what got us - that Brendan was some form of a stalker in just about every Contestshipping fiction. Highly displeased with the shallowness of his portrayal in a variety of fiction, we have written this:

**Unfortunate Dichotomy: In Defense of Brendan Birch**

As many of you will know, in the Pokémon anime, at least from the Hoenn saga on, a number of characters from the Pokémon _game_ get slighted; from main characters to members of the Elite Four, people are simply getting left out. Therefore, as fanfiction authors, it is our duty to represent these characters, and to keep them alive. "In the flow", as it were. As for the case of Brendan Birch… we are not impressed.

Brendan is the male (May is the female) main character in the Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald games (as the male, he is technically analogous with the first of the series list, which here is Ruby, and also, as the male, he is generally presented with the starter Pokémon that, in the games, is easiest to raise, which, here, is Mudkip — the Anime has not contested either of these points). In the games, whichever character chosen (male or female) is the offspring of Norman, the fifth chronologically ordered Gym Leader, who the character will eventually defeat. The character not chosen is the child of Professor Birch. As the anime has declared May the daughter of Norman, Brendan is therefore the son of the Professor, hence the name, Brendan Birch (the anime has not explicitly stated this, but it logically follows). They are the same age, and it can be assumed that, in the anime, they start their journeys within a year of each other.

There seems to be an unfortunate dichotomy on this point: in the anime, Brendan gets little screen time (which in and of itself is not a bad thing), and has little to no represented relationship with May (an Easter Egg character, essentially, thrown in solely as a cameo in two movies). And yet, for some reason, he is highly unpopular with the fanfiction authors, who popularly portray him as some form of stalker. This is discontinuous with what little we know of him from the games.

Since the Anime gives no reliable view of his personality, we are forced to rely on his representation in the games and the Pokémon Special manga (or else develop some alternate form of him, which often becomes the subject of unfair and unfounded bashing). In the manga, Ruby is originally shown to be rude, self-centered, and egotistic. No one will deny this. He has a high sense of fashion (and the typical ego to match, a fashionist through and through). However, as the manga progresses he matures, constantly going through experiences that help him deflate his ego. In the games (if the female character is chosen), he is also portrayed a slight egotist (although far less so than his manga counterpart), and (this is where the stalker stereotype comes from) he meets with the main female character (May) several times. However, these events and the stalker stereotype have no correlation, as the same events happen with May, who is far more friendly and outgoing towards Brendan, and could thus be arguably more attracted to him – especially considering the differences in dialogue; May meets him originally in her room when he is sent there by her mother, and almost immediately starts confiding "secrets" in him. This could also be an argument for some apparent trustwortiness he seems to show, at least at the later stages in his life. He is a bit spoiled from being an only child with incredibly loving, if a bit odd, parents; also of note, he has never had a constant peer in his life before. This reveals itself in his speech mannerisms and behavior in general towards May; he doesn't like the idea that someone else is better than him, but eventually matures out of his disappointment and attitude. In fact, he actually begins to seek out May's company - players of Pokemon Emerald will recall a phone call he made to May, in which he says he wishes she had been there with him to see a green dragon Pokémon (Rayquaza) flying through the sky. Following this, in the games' (Ruby, Saphire, and Emerald) finale, he apparently rushes into the Champion's room with the hope of giving May some final advice before her Championship battle, only to be rendered speechless when he realizes she doesn't need it - bizarrely, he runs so quickly that apparently he leaves Professor Birch behind early on, judging from the latter's late appearance; this raises the question of whether he actually battled the members of Elite Four just to get to May, since it has not been established that Professor Birch can go through without battling (it would be assumably so, but it has not been stated expressly, leaving the question standing).

In short, Brendan Birch, according to game-canon, matures greatly thanks to his interactions with May, not to mention several scenes which could be used in support of Hoennshipping (Brendan and May romance as it appears in literature and other art forms). There is nothing extraordinarily negative or bizarre about his character at all.

Therefore, it follows that it seems that the only reason for an outright dislike of Brendan Birch is due to the popularity of another character. Drew, from the anime, is a cool, suave, highly popular rival (and almost anime-fanon love interest) of May's contest campaigns. Although, as both Brendan and Drew have supposedly never met, it is unsure as to how they would react (although it might be one of two things, both being highly skilled trainers, they might develop either a respect for each other or a rivalry, or both). Contestshippers (those who have a liking for Drew and May romance) have seemed to develop a concept out of this of Brendan being a stalker, and generally ruining his character in general, portraying him as a very bad, evil, psychotic, insane, sociopathic, _et cetera ad infinitum_ person, when the evidence points to the opposite. This is rather symptomatic of a "disease" called Shipper-itis: mostly it involves the devlopment of a bizarre and extreme dislike of a character that presents either opposition or a challenge to one's preferred Ship. As in, there is a viable love interest for May that is NOT Drew (in this case, Brendan), and so he must be BAD. (Unfortunately, this is not as uncommon as one might hope).

Brendan Birch, in the anime (which will henceforth be the center of orientation alongside the games; Ruby from Pokémon Special doesn't need defending), is shown to be a highly skilled trainer. Considering how long it generally takes to evolve one Pokemon fully - May's Torchic didn't evolve into Blaziken until the near end of the fourth season following her debut in Hoenn, namely the Battle Frontier Saga - Brendan Birch is shown to have already _two fully evolved_ Pokémon (and later three in the Manaphy movie, although it can be safely assumed that this third was fully evolved by the same time as the first two), Aggron, Shiftry, and Swampert (the remainder of his current team is not shone) by the first movie in the Hoenn Saga. In addition, it takes some serious training to help a Pokémon master (verb, not noun) an unnatural technique (say, a Technical Machine or Move Tutor-imposed one), and Brendan has taught his Aggron the Ice Beam technique, which is about a foreign a technique as possible for the saurian Steel-Rock type, although it wields it with impressive power and ability (it freezes a Starmie in mid-air; considering that Starmie is a water Pokémon and has a natural resistance to Ice-types and freezing - in addition to Aggron's relatively poor Special abilities - this is an impressive feat). Also, in his second cameo, his Swampert is shown to have a very high level - it battles evenly with a Tyranitar, which has one of the highest-ranked physical orientation statistics in all the Pokémon world – it ranks in the top 100 (keep in mind that there are 493 known Pokémon) in both attack and defensive stats (#12 and #50, respectively, according to Serebii). Considering that Tyranitar don't appear until they reach a base level of 55 (nineteen levels beyond Swampert's base 36), and also that this Tyranitar is more than likely not freshly-evolved, Swampert's abilities being boosted to the same level or beyond is an impressive feat, in and of itself, not to mention that Brendan has also taught Swampert the Ice Beam technique. To say that Brendan Birch is a good trainer is, honestly, a bit of an understatement.

It can be safely assumed that (except for his interactions with May and the Enviro-Terrorist Teams) Brendan's backstory follows essentially the same plot of the games (more than likely Emerald): he meets and befriends Wally and Scott, and takes on an apprentice at the Battle Frontier (most likely the Bug Catcher portrayed in the promotional art), et cetera. He remains similarly dressed as his game incarnation, and wears his bandana. And here, we pause to make a point. Brendan Birch, in our opinion, wears a bandana and ONLY a bandana. Only in his Pokémon Special incarnation is it definitely a white cloth hat that has a bandana as its base. In our defense, yes, we have noticed his darker, black sideburns. How, then, can he have white hair, too? This is a moot point. Tell us, has any ONE of you ever considered that Eugene Chaud Blaze (Megaman Battle Network) wears a massive egg shell on his otherwise black hair? Or what of Hatsuharu Sohma from Fruits Basket? His dichrome hair is natural, too.

Anyway, the aetheistic points of Brendan Birch are not the points that need defending (not yet, anyway), merely his representation. To sum up my argument, Brendan Birch is a down-to-earth, if somewhat standoffish trainer with a high level of skills. No, he does not stalk May (in reality, it might be more realistic to say she stalks him), and so I find it highly unfair to discriminate against him for this. The popularity of one character does not mean another is a bad guy. So, finally, we ask you all to at least stop outright bashing him; we don't mind in the slightest if you have a well developed pro-Contestshipping story that includes him, but at least help make it realistic. Please, this Unfortunate Dichotomy needs correcting.


End file.
